In just a moment we're going to have a Washington report from the great Peter Doocy about Israel-related news and then Senator Eric Schmitt will be here to tell us about the Republican Senate meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Later on, we'll be talking politics about the Gavin Newsom-Ron DeSantis debate on Sean Hannity tomorrow night and Steve Forbes will be here to lament the worst wave of antisemitism since the 1930s. First, let's talk about the economy for a moment and the fact that the Biden administration, as always, cannot tell the truth about the American economy.
This is a long-suffering movie that we've all seen before, but just to refresh, here's White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre just this past Monday. Please listen and weep:
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: "When we walked into this administration, the economy was on a tailspin. That is the fact because of the last administration, because of the Trump administration. The president came in, he passed the American Rescue Plan, which was able to get the economy back on its feet and let’s not forget what Republicans are doing...They’re trying to increase health care costs. They want to get rid of Medicare. They want to get rid of Social Security."
I hardly know where to begin, there are so many falsehoods coming from the White House podium. First of all, there was no "tailspin." By the first quarter of 2021, the American economy was growing at about 6.5% with an inflation rate that was less than 1.5%.
So, Joe Biden takes office January 20, essentially riding atop a soaring economy without inflation and gasoline prices were barely above $2 a gallon. Those are facts, Madam Press Secretary. F-A-C-T-S. Facts. You can look it up.
The economic rebound from the COVID collapse was a V-shaped recovery and, I can tell you, I know from experience because, as the former National Economic Council director, along with my pal Kevin Hassett at the Council of Economic Advisers, and Tyler Goodspeed at the CEA, we were touting a V-shaped recovery and took enormous flack from the liberal Washington media and the Democrats, but we were right, and they were wrong.
Trump policies of tax cuts, deregulation, and "drill baby drill" had created sound economic fundamentals. Trump’s deregulation alone put $11,000 more per year into the pockets of hard-working blue-collar Americans. So, as the COVID clouds disappeared, the pro-growth policies drove the economy right back up.
The smartest thing Joe Biden could've down was – wait for it – hang on a second – done nothing because if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but no, the Bidens had to push for a $2 trillion spending plan to scratch every left-wing Democratic itch. All that did was jack up the inflation rate ultimately to 9%. By the first half of 2022, the economy was in recession with two negative GDP quarters. That's Bidenomics. Since then, they have continued to spend, regulate and tax.
Their socialist Green New Deal war on fossil fuels has not only made all manner of energy products far more expensive here at home, but it has raised oil prices around the world, thereby benefitting our enemies like Russia and Iran – where Biden foreign policy continues to appease, rather than deter.
The same can be said for China, which is financing two wars in Ukraine and Israel with massive oil purchases from Russia and Iran. That's Bidenomics.
As far as the charge that Republicans want to "get rid of Medicare and Social Security" – that is just stupid sophomoric malarky politics. It’s a pack of lies because the Republicans are in favor of no such thing and Biden knows this.
In fact, even in the State of the Union, when Biden tried to use the same lie about the big entitlements and every single Republican in the chamber rose up to boo him because it was completely wrong and people see right through these lies.
Biden said recently that this year’s Thanksgiving was cheaper, but in fact, the American Farm Bureau came out and said – wait a second – Thanksgiving costs were 41% higher than 2020 and, right down the line, cost after cost has risen enormously from Bidenomics.
Real wages have been falling almost steadily for three years. High energy and grocery costs, add to that soaring insurance costs, interest rates on borrowing to buy homes or cars, and don't forget credit cards – are all soaring. That's Bidenomics.
In terms of the next 12 months or so, the reliable Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators has fallen 19 consecutive months, nearly as bad as anything we've seen since World War II. The threat of a recession next year is rising. That's why Americans are so unhappy with the economy.
The recent New York Times-Siena College poll shows overwhelmingly that people rate the economy "poor" or "only fair" – including: 70% of those making less than $50,000; 61% making $50,000 to $100,000; 89% of young people aged 18-29; 75% of Blacks and Hispanics; and 65% of women.
That is a vote of no confidence in Bidenomics. Nobody cares about a bunch of phony lies coming from a press secretary who has no clue about the subject matter. Most disturbing of all, the same lies come from the commander-in-chief who is trying to lie his way through a botched left-wing, big government, socialist policy that has utterly failed the vast majority of working folks in this country.
Indeed, the reason Donald Trump is soaring in the polls and now running ahead of Biden as well as Trump's primary opponents, is that working folks of all incomes, no matter their ethnicity or color or sex, want a return to the peace and prosperity of the Trump years. That's what's really going on out there, no matter how many fibs Karine Jean-Pierre tries to sell.
This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the November 29, 2023, edition of "Kudlow."
